Publisher's Synopsis
Maintaining the stability of Europe has been a traditional aim of Britain's policy towards Europe. Given the pressure for revision of the status quo from discontented powers such as Germany and Italy, this became an increasingly difficult task during the inter-war period. Britain, moreover, had to confront the threats to the stability of the continent that these powers presented, in the context of the concerns of her global, and increasingly over-stretched empire. The chapters of this book explores the nature of the British response given the constraints upon policy.;Events on the continent in this period did not just have an impact on policy. A second theme of the book is the way in which these and other new developments such as ecumenism, were re-shaping British thinking about Europe and European unity during the inter-war years. Finally, the book explores the impact of Britain's relations with Europe during this period, and examines British thinking about Europe and the development of the idea of European unity in these years. It should prove valuable for the growing number of courses on the European unity movement, and should appeal to those interested in the background to, and British policy during World War II.
